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Old 06-15-2013, 15:58   #14
Beef
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Deep South
Posts: 936
Quote:
Originally Posted by PRB View Post
If he never served with a German unit why is he wearing an iron cross in that one photo?
One other comment about anti communist......Nazi's were Socialists...actually basically Communists but the primary difference was they were National Socialists believing in a German socialism and not the one world order of socialism.
Hooking up with a totally state run socialist outfit and saying you are anti communist is like being a little bit prego.
He may have been anti Soviet but far from anti communist.
PRB, what you say is absolutely true, politically. There are several biographies of Thorne out there that can explain his stance on communists/Soviets better than I. But basically, Finland was invaded by Russia in 1939 and Thorne enlisted, serving as a cook initially. That war (The Winter War) ended in 1940 with a badly brokered treaty that had Finland give up the Karelian Isthimus. The Finns had militarily defeated the Soviets, but were totally logistically depleted. So they had to give in.

In 1942, war with the USSR broke out again (The Continuation War.) Germany offered Finland men and material. They took it. Germany sent advisors and troops. Finns recieved Iron Crosses and Germans Mannerhiem Crosses (I.e., RVN Cross of Gallantry.) Thorne was selected for officer training in Germany. Early on, the Waffen SS were the primary recruiters of Eastern troops. Lith., Lat., Ukr., etc. they raised several units of Waffen SS troops from these countries including one regiment from Finland that fought further south in USSR. Thus, they were set up for training these troops. Thorne completed training and returned to the Finnish Army. Funny that this came up, because I read in my local paper today about a former Ukranian SS Lt. that is 93 and living in MN. There is a movement to get him deported to Poland or Germany to stand trial for war crimes. Which is a good thing, since there is and shouldn't be a statute of limitations on what he oversaw as a Co. Cmdr.

The strangest part of WW II in Finland was the end. The Soviets launched an offensive and overran most of the Axis troops in Finland in 1944. The Finns again brokered a truce with the USSR. The terms this time included a clause saying that the Finns have to push the Germans out of Finland themselves by force of arms. So the Finns turned on the Germans and pushed them out via Norway (The Lapland War.) A surreal scenario.

Thorne's motivations were purely patriotic, based on what I've read. I guess it's like the Afghan people's erroneous initial embrace of the Taliban for relief from warlords after the Soviets pulled out. Be careful what devil you ask to the dance! And given Thorne's overall life story, I'd say he accepted the best training he could receive because he was indeed a Professional Soldier in every sense of the word. Even to the point of training under one homicidal dictatorship to fight another.
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